Whether you've attended or not, most every LowLife knows that the Lifestyles Organization (LSO) has been holding large and annual swingers conventions somewhere in the western US for over 20 years. While it has been held in Southern California several times (L.A., Palm Springs, San Diego), LSO found that the powers-that-be in the left coast state weren't the friendliest towards the massive lifestyle party so decided Nevada was a friendlier location. While there have been several fairly successful events held in Reno, LSO basically settled on Las Vegas as the destination of choice for the event.

Things moved along nicely while the event was held at the Stardust as the ol' resort seemed to welcome the hedonistic revelers with open arms. Unfortunately, the Stardust was leveled to make way for a really cool, 1/2 finished hotel (Echelon). The convention then moved to the cozy little Tuscany Hotel which may still be traumatized by the site of semi-clad party people running amuck throughout their normally quiet property.

More On The Convention (more)

While casino gambling has spread across the United States to a bunch of different cites, Indian reservations and floating casinos, one thing that hasn't spread is the legal sports book. Las Vegas is still unique in this and, given the power of professional sports these days, that monopoly will probably continue for quite some time.*

The Super Bowl is the biggest single day for sports betting in Las Vegas (the NCAA's multi-day event "March Madness" is the other betting biggie) and brings out even the casual better probably because the game brings out even the casual viewer as it has become more of a national holiday than a sporting event.

We Love Prop Bets! (more)

The most powerful "power couple" on the Strip, Steve and Elaine Wynn, has reportedly split up so that Steve, 67, can spend time with his new babe, a 40-something British woman. The break-up actually happened a couple of months ago but was kept quiet until the New York Post got wind of it. 66 year-old Elaine, Miss Miami Beach 1960, has an active role in Wynn Las Vegas serving as director of the resort since 2002. Supposedly, their business relationship will continue despite their personal one hitting the skids.

The Wynns have two daughters, Kevyn and Gillian. You might recall that Kevyn Wynn was kidnapped in 1993 by two kidnappers and an accomplice. The Wynns promptly paid $1.45 million in ransom for her safe return but the kidnappers were apprehended when one attempted to buy a Ferrari in Newport Beach with cash.

Once upon a time it used to be called the Super Bowl, remember? But now, due to the lawsuit-happy NFL, no one who stands to make any money off of the game or the name such as bars and grocery stores and car dealerships (news organizations are exempt) can use that term anymore so now it's just "The Big Game" or "Super Sunday" or some such nonsense.

However, since we are one of the premier international news reporting (and news fabricating) organizations we can still use the term but we choose not to if we can help it. So--as we do for every holiday or event that entices people to party--we've listed all the, uh, Big Game celebrations in a special category entitled, archaically enough, "Super Bowl Parties".

Super Sunday is a big holiday for Las Vegas and there are happenings all weekend long (including a UFC fight) so we've listed more than just the, Sup...ah, er, Football Championship Game parties.

The American Kennel Club recently announced the top dogs in Las Vegas. The breed that won yet again--for the 18th consecutive year nationally--is the Labrador Retriever. There are more than twice the number of AKC-registered Labs then any other breed so they will be the top pooch for years to come.

The Las Vegas Rankings:
* 1. Labrador Retriever
* 2. Bulldog
* 3. German Shepherd Dog
* 4. Yorkshire Terrier
* 5. Poodle
* 6. Golden Retriever
* 7. Shih Tzu
* 8. Dachshund
* 9. Rottweiler
* 10. Boxer

What's yours?

The face of Las Vegas has changed so quickly due to its newer-is-better attitude that much of our structural history is only available in books. Gone, in a wink of an eye, are places where the famed Rat Pack hung out like the Sands, Dunes and Desert Inn. A whole slew of other lesser-known hotels and casinos have made way for the next bigger and more modern thing and, ultimately, many of them have also been imploded for the latest/greatest, next-gen model.

About the only history we have hung onto--other than archive photographs--are some of the neon signs that have seemingly always been a part of Las Vegas. Yesco, the sign company that created many of these iconic and no-longer-wanted signs, tucked many of them away in their junkyard (a.k.a. the "boneyard"). While very few seemed to care about these flashy remembrances of the past, the sign company thought that some day maybe people would want to see Aladdin's lamp, the Hacienda horse or the slipper from the Silver Slipper.

The Neon Museum, The Boneyard, A Guided Tour (more)

If you ever thought it might be fun to actually live on the fantabulous Las Vegas Strip for awhile, to enjoy the decadence and the energy of Sin City up close and personal, but didn't want to blow your nest egg on one of those many high-rise condominiums that were built along LV Boulevard over the past few years, then we've got some news you can use. In what many experts are saying could be the start of a trend, The Donald has decided that because so many people who said they were going to buy condos in his Trump Tower have defaulted, he's going to lease those luxury units as apartments. And you only have to commit to one for as little as three months, if you want.

Originally, Trump had contracts-to-buy on nearly all of his 1,282 units, but the credit crunch has spelled trouble for over 800 of the prospective buyers so the complex is left with quite a number of spaces that aren't generating any revenue. So Trump is going into the furnished apartment game. For as little as $1,600/month you can live the Las Vegas lifestyle! Just think what it'll do to your swing lifestyle close-the-deal ratio when you're groovin' with a hot couple in Wynn's XS and you can say "hey, we live--yes, live--right across the street! Wanna walk over and check out our view?" (of course, there's no need to tell them the view is that of the girders, beams and rebar of the unfinished Echelon). Besides, not having to worry about those pesky DUI tickets is worth the price by itself, right?

Here's the scoop on what Trump is asking:(more)

"Today was Hillary Clinton's first day as secretary of state. She's now in charge of all foreign affairs. Bill Clinton will still handle all domestic affairs."
-- Craig Ferguson

We might not normally comment on the results of the Miss America pageant but since they ran a photo of the winner in a bikini and she looks pretty hot we felt compelled to try and say something. So, here goes: "something". There, we said it and we meant it.

If you actually want to read about the pageant that took place at Planet Hollywood and want to find out that it was the first time someone from Indiana (the same town as John Mellencamp hails from) has won the tiara and that the chick is extremely religious (and very, very, very "blessed" to win) and that she takes home a $50,000 scholarship check you can read here. But we won't say a word about it as we are just filling space to have something to wrap around the bikini photo.

The biggest holiday of the year is upon us and it will be a good time to gauge the economic climate of an important part of the world. While Las Vegas may see more tourists during the our famous New Year's celebrations or perhaps over one of the long, 3-day weekends that hail the beginning and end of summer, no holiday packs more casino "drop" per visitor than the Chinese New Year's celebration.

We used to think it was simply a funny curiosity when Caesars Palace became the Chinese Palace for a week or so every year, going so far as to erect a Buddhist shrine out in front of their resort. Well, the joke was on us as the "whales" that make the annual trek from Asia (along with the lower-stakes Chinese from California and elsewhere) spend hundreds of millions of dollars in markting-savvy Vegas resorts to ring in their new year.

Will this year be different? That's the uneasy question that's being thrown around. While China's hard-charging economy has been slowed by the world's economic situation, they are still chugging along at an enviable growth rate. Will the wealthy high-rollers and the newly-minted Chinese middle-class decide to be frugal this year and either skip the Southern Nevada trip or tone down their game play? The issue has the Strip on edge. You can't say we aren't trying to attract Chinese visitors as the town--especially the upscale resorts--will have elaborate and appropriate displays up all over their properties.

The best indicator will be baccarat play. The Chinese love their baccarat and this is the time of year when those tables are packed. The amount of the baccarat drop during the month of Chinese New Year has increased from $455.6 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion last year. We're holding our breath in hopes that the tables will be full again this year...

To us it sounds like yet another good excuse to party. I mean, c'mon, doesn't the Year of the Ox always get you excited to whoop it up?

We kinda like the way Las Vegas-based UFC does business. The largest mixed martial arts organization takes a look at the best match-ups, makes a you-had-better-take-it offer to the contestants and, viola'!, the fight is on. There's no ducking fights, no not seeing the two best fighters in their prime never getting into the ring with each other, none of that boxing stuff. UFC President Dana White looks at what the people wants and--boom!--makes it happen. It's great for the fan. (Of course, the fighters may not like it so much as there have been complaints of the UFC being cheap on sharing the revenue from the massive pay-per-view numbers but that's a different story.)

UFC 94 will take place at the MGM on January 31st and will feature yet another nice card, headlined by a rematch of B.J. Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre. White thinks the fight will generate the UFC's biggest PPV viewer-ship ever and the UFC has already become the king of PPV, knocking out boxing and the WWE along the way.

But Mr. White isn't stopping there. He has some lofty goals. He thinks MMA will become bigger than the NFL some day relatively soon. Whereas expansion for the NFL is limited on a worldwide basis due to the lack of playing American football in other countries, fighting is a worldwide activity as, for better or worse, "boys will be boys" no matter where ya go.

Not sure MMA will be bigger than the NFL--it'll only take a death or two in the ring to mess things up--but there's no doubting that the numbers are becoming huge for the sport.

The LowLife listing for UFC 94.

With the state facing a budget shortfall, one state senator has come up with an idea that we feel is long overdue: he wants to legalize and tax prostitution in Las Vegas and Reno where it is currently illegal (it's outlawed in Nevada counties with populations over 400,000).

Only “the most naive person on the planet would believe there’s no prostitution going on in the urban areas,” State Sen. Bob Coffin said. “It’s going on now unregulated and unsafe."

Our sentiments exactly. Anyone with a few bucks in hand can wander down to the Strip and find a working girl in a matter of minutes. And many of them have a "wink, wink" relationship with the hotel making them virtual partners in an illegal activity. Many bellmen, concierges, casino hosts and even cab & limo drivers can readily make a phone call to have a lady of the night delivered to one's room in less time than it takes for a Domino's pizza to arrive.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has advocated the idea for quite awhile as a component of his plan for downtown redevelopment but has always met with a stony silence. We think it's time to end the hypocrisy but then we felt that way long before legislators became desperate for new state revenue streams.

Unfortunately, we don't think the idea will fly. Should the concept ever make it past the talking stages, you can be assured that the various religious groups in the state--many of the same ones that vigorously backed the anti-gay marriage Prop 8 in California--will certainly pour millions into nipping this evil proposal in the bud.

A few weeks ago we passed along a rumor regarding 80's rockers Cheap Trick and a possible Beatles-themed show at the Hilton. Not sure what happened to that idea but maybe it's part of an overall concept of old rockers taking over the stage Elvis once owned as the latest news involves even more rock n rollers setting up shop on Paradise Road.

In December, a show called "Monster Circus" did a benefit toy drive at the Hilton and a whole gaggle of metal musicians rocked the joint accompanied by fire breathers, pyro displays, pole dancers and tight rope style performances "in a totally Vegas, over-the-top manner". Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Bruce Kulick (KISS), Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Dio), Tony Montana (Great White) and Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver) were among the muscians who took part in the "circus".

Now, the word is, the Hilton has signed the concept to a long-term contract. From the beginning, Bruce Kulick had his eye on a long-term project: "The way "Monster Circus" is set up, the band can have different members rotate in and out depending on the individual players' schedules, and I look forward to a chance to do the show again when possible. So let's hope it gets picked up in Vegas, as it is was a great night and I got to have some fun in a place where Elvis made history."

It's good to see a Las Vegas resort thinking out of the box. But who would have thought that the same stage where Barry Manilow performs would make way for a bunch of rockers from some of the biggest metal bands of all time? Rock on, dude!

A Youtube video from the first Monster Circus. It starts out kind of blocked people standing in front of the camera but it settles down and it's not a bad vid of the band doing Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" and some glimpses of the dancer on the stripper's pole.

"A lot of celebrities are in Washington for the inauguration. In fact, so many celebrities are out of town, over in Malibu they had to close the Promises rehab center for the week."
-- Jay Leno

We run across quite a few of these Las Vegas "Top 10" (or "Top 5") lists put out by various magazines and websites and we'll post 'em here now and then. Here's one, published by Casino City Times, which pretty much lists the free attractions we'd recommend should our friends or relatives ask us.

Top-10 free Attractions in Las Vegas: (more)

Such a deal, from the Trump Hotel (as reported by the L.A. Times)...

"Las Vegas’ Trump Hotel suites under $100
Admit it, you’ve been curious to know what it’s like to stay at a Trump Hotel. Descending room rates in Vegas are not only for the mid-priced Strip hotels. The luxury destinations have lowered their rates too. This week Trump Hotel Las Vegas announced rooms as low as $89 per night.

Deal: Ask for the “Suite Escape” to get a Studio Suite with floor-to-ceiling windows, 500-thread-count sheets and a $50 credit for the Spa at Trump (to be used for massage and facial treatments). In addition, the suite deal offers guests a late checkout at 4 p.m. Tested: I found this rate available for the weekend of Feb. 6-8, 2009. The total price came to $194, including tax.
When: Valid for travel through Feb. 11, 2009
Contact: Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas, 702-982-0000"

If the sound of one hundred Olympic Garden strippers frolicking around a local nightclub handing out $50,000 worth of lap dance gift cards sounds like your idea of a good time then you might want to check out Jet nightclub (Mirage) tonight for OG's 20th anniversary bash.

And, if mingling with hot exotic dancers who are giving out lap dance checks isn't enough, some lucky person will walk away with the grand prize of a $100,000 OG bar tab!

$100k in drinks? Even at Olympic Gardens prices that would make for quite a celebration. Hey, if ya win, let's have a giant lifestyle party there--whataya say?

In an earlier Know It A.L.L. article about the huge increase in the upcoming 2009 Las Vegas hotel room inventory, we mentioned that the under-construction Strip resort project, Fontainebleau, was experiencing financing problems. Well, we mis-reported, it seems. While we had grabbed the info from a news article we ran across, it appears that the Miami Beach-themed resort is one of the few Vegas developerments that has enough cash--more than enough, actually--to complete what they started out to do.

Before the current credit crunch, Fontainebleau secured $4 billion in financing which oughta cover the $2.9 billion price tag for the 3,815 room resort (located just north of the Riviera built on the 24.5 acres where the El Rancho and Algiers casinos once stood). Their issue isn't the money needed to complete the project but the fact that over 1,000 of the rooms were going to be sold as condo units and that market is currently in the dumps. That has altered their business plan a bit. Any of the condos that don't sell will probably be converted to hotel room inventory.

Despite that problem, the Fontainebleau is still on track for an October opening and it sounds like it's going to be a pretty cool--and high-tech--hotel.

Much More on the Fontainebleau Features (including Pool Pic) (more)

You've had nearly 50 years to catch the oh-so-very Vegasy show but if you haven't, or you want to see it one last time, now is that time as Tropicana's topless showgirl extravaganza, "Folies Bergere", is closing at the end of March. It wasn't the first French showgirl revue in Las Vegas--Lido de Paris opened a year and a half earlier at the Stardust in 1958--and it wasn't the last, but it has outlived every other show--those with feathered showgirls and those without--on the Strip.

The Tropicana--one of the few hotels that actually own their resort's major entertainment offering--is looking to pull itself out of it's massive indebtedness so the expensive-to-produce and the not-nearly-as-popular-as-it-once-was production made the hit list.

More on the Folies and its Closing (more)

While there's speculation that former Playboy Playmate Holly Madison is in discussions with producers about a possible show on the Las Vegas Strip, and a rumor that porn star Tera Patrick has been contacted about a possible Vegas production, one show that is a definite is 'Peepshow', a sexy "modern burlesque show created specifically for the dynamic, glamorous audience that exists only in the adult playground of Las Vegas" (or so the press release says).

You can even buy tickets for the show's preview and regular performances which starts at Planet Hollywood on March 30 (opening night April 18).

"Peepshow is a story of sexuality and empowerment told through dance and contemporary popular music. It stars Spice Girl Mel B., who will originate the role as the mistress of ceremonies, the "Peep Diva," sultry television siren Kelly Monaco will take the stage as "Bo Peep," a timid girl who the Diva guides in her transformation into a confident, sensual woman.

The plot of Peepshow kinda sounds like the lifestyle, doesn't it? We've seen a bunch of women become sexually empowered and transformed into a confident and sensual being once they start on the lifestyle path. Not sure how long the show will last but we applaud the theme.

It's about time we received some good news. Last year Men's Fitness magazine rated Las Vegas as the fattest city in the nation. This year we're number 4. Be thankful for small things. Or, be thankful for not-as-large things, perhaps.

Even though we improved a bit over '08, Men’s Fitness still gave Las Vegas a grade of “F” or “F+” in the following categories: sports participation, TV viewing, overweight/sedentary, junk food, city recreation facilities and access to health care.

While Las Vegas has more health food stores than most cities, the magazine says the city also has 68 percent more fast food restaurants. Donuts are 84 percent more popular here and there are 106 percent more pizza places here than in the other cities that were analyzed.

But at least we aren't the fattest any more! Woo hoo!! Something to be happy about. It's amazing what stress from foreclosures and job layoffs can do for one's weight, eh?

The Top 5 Tattest and Fittest Cities(more)

Whenever the New York Times comments on Las Vegas it usually means something extreme has occurred. It could be that we were building a ton of new--and hugely expensive--resorts, have record number of tourists or that our city ad campaign has become amazingly successful (and without a NYC ad agency--go figure).

It might also have something to do with a topic that has a bit of a New York angle such as Trump finally building on the Strip, famed Manhattan chefs being lured to Vegas or maybe an iconic NYC nightclub, restaurant or retail store setting up shop in town.

And, as with most of the media, the NY Times also enjoys kicking us when we're down with articles about our national-best, er, ah worst, home foreclosures, tourism drops and resort financing woes. Frankly, we probably deserve it as we've been pretty cocky in our success for the past several decades.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to run across an article entitled "Las Vegas, a Best Bet for Bargain Seekers" that was almost entirely positive, even to the point of ending with "More fun, fewer crowds and for less money? Sounds like everybody wins. (Just don’t tell the house.)" (Granted it's a travel piece and they are generally more positive to begin with but still, it's the Times...)

Anyway, the gist of the article is that there are bargains to be had everywhere, not just with rooms (although where else can you get a five-Star hotel for well under $200? In NYC you might pay $800) but rental car companies, shows and restaurants. Who woulda thunk it that the outrageously expensive L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon restaurant would be serving multi-course tasting menus for $75?
Damn, maybe that's where we should hold the next LowLife mixer!

Robin Leach has a hot new tidbit. He says Playmate and Criss Angel squeeze, Holly Madison, is receiving all kinds of offers to headline a show on the Strip. Interesting news but what, exactly, does she do? Holly is being referred to as the "new Pamela Anderson" but Pamela dosen't have a whole bunch of talent that translates to a successful Strip production (although, after watching the Pam & Tommy Lee honeymoon video it's obvious she does have the kind of talent that LowLifes would appreciate).

I'm sure they'll come up with something for Holly and you'll probably see Angel produce it but I'm having trouble envisioning the concept. Maybe she'll get a bunch of Playmates together for a Pussycat Dolls type of thing. Stay tuned for this one...

There's a gaming company--a casino and race track operator out of Pennsylvania--who currently has around a billion and a half dollars sitting in the bank and has publicly stated that they want to purchase a resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The speculation game as to which property they ultimately acquire is heating up, especially after MGM announced last month they were selling off the Treasure Island for $775 mil. Would TI be the first of several Las Vegas properties to be sold on the auction block? It's no secret MGM needs some cash to complete CityCenter, that Harrah's has an absolute ton of debt and Station Casinos is rumored to be contemplating bankruptcy.

The first casino cash-rich Penn National has been linked to is the Mirage. Supposedly, there have been rumors flying around the Strip that a deal was imminent but those rumors have been dispelled for now. While a publicly traded company needs to evaluate legitimate offers or face possible shareholder wrath, the Mirage has just completed a renovation and MGM would miss its normally-top notch cash flow so they are saying the deal doesn't work for them. MGM would rather sell of some of its vacant land holdings or non-Vegas casinos.

Besides, Penn National is looking for a bargain and maybe something else will pop up for a cheaper price as the economy worsens. Like the Rio, for example. That's the latest "chopping block" rumor going around.

Since we are speculating that hotel deals are imminent in 2009, which ones will be sold? Will it be vacant land like MGM's parcels north of Circus Circus? A fixer-upper like the Imperial Palace or the Tropicana? Or maybe a gem that a financially feeble company would let go at a bargain like, say, Red Rock Station? Any ideas on who is next or who should be next, LowLifes?

In yet another sign that times are hard in these parts, the largest--and most indebted--gaming company in the world has decided to put a hold on the completion of Caesars Palace 660-room Octavius Tower. Caesars' parent company, Harrah's Entertainment, said that with the declining room demand in Las Vegas it doesn't make sense to add even more inventory to the glut of ever-lowering-priced rooms.

Caesars Palace started their billion dollar expansion project in the summer of '07 when things looked much rosier. But not all parts of the plan are being delayed as you'll see the new 110,000 square foot meeting and convention facility and a Garden of the Gods pool expansion roll out as scheduled this coming summer.

More on the Delay (more)

CES, the huge consumer electronics tradeshow has packed up and left town and the organizers are saying it was a successful event so maybe we'll see then again next year..

"More than 2,700 global companies, including 300 new exhibitors, unveiled an estimated 20,000 new technology products across 1.7 million net square feet of exhibit space this week at the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, electrifying the technology industry and helping lead the way to economic recovery

New trends unveiled at the 2009 CES will shape the future of consumer electronics, including ground-breaking technologies such as the Palm Pre, Sony’s flexible OLED display, 3D HDTV, Yahoo!’s TV Widget, LG’s Watch Phone and a 1/3 inch thin energy efficient Plasma HDTV from Panasonic," said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences, CEA. "Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer announced Windows 7 Beta at his pre-CES keynote and the download response was so high, it overloaded their systems."

Hopefully the economy will rebound in 2009 so some of us can actually purchase some of these cool gadgets...

Here's a weird one...

Would you pay to see the 80's rock band Cheap Trick performing the Beatles' epic album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with a full orchestra...in a showroom...at the Hilton...dark Mondays? Well, that's just what the original members of Cheap Trick and the Las Vegas Hilton are finalizing. The show could be on stage as early as this coming March.

Hmmm... Not sure about this one but then again, it just might be different enough to be successful. At least it's a bit riskier than Donny & Marie.

(Background: Cheap Trick has sold 20 million records and produced 29 movie sound tracks. They hit it big in 1979 when "I Want You to Want Me" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Top 40. "The Flame" topped the charts in 1988 and their cover of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" reached No. 4 a couple of months later. VH-1 listed Cheap Trick No. 25 among the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" which obviously makes them legit, I guess.)

The Power Exchange in San Francisco was a huge center of hedonistic deviance in downtown San Francisco with floors and areas for gays, bi's, transgenders, swingers and BDSMers. On some nights they all intermingled. It wasn't the prettiest facility--in fact, it was fairly seedy--but it was known as an "anything goes" island of tolerance for all sexual preferences and was a popular landmark for 13 years.

A couple of months ago the owner, Mike Powers, shut the bay area facility down and moved to Las Vegas, opening a brand spankin' new, two story, 13,000 square foot play palace over behind the Rio Hotel (in a former Nextel admin building proving that, while telecom companies may come and go, sex is always a growth industry!). The Las Vegas Power Exchange primarily caters to swingers, the bondage people and transgenders and has lots of fun theme rooms, play spaces and BDSM equipment.

The "soft" opening for the club was in November and the clientele has been steadily increasing with PE garnering quite a few very positive reviews in a short period of time. Tonight's official grand opening coincides with the porn convention in town and, by special ALL arrangement, is FREE to LowLife couples (with coupon) and those with a San Fran area i.d. (in honor of PE's previous patrons). PE is always free to single females and transgenders.

It's not often Las Vegas gets a new swing club--especially one this large and elaborate--so come on over and check this new play space out starting at 9 p.m. Remember, at Power Exchange you can "Be as naughty as you want to be!"

A few photos of Power Exchange

Polly Esther's, the 29,000 sq. foot nightclub inside the Stratosphere, closed its doors in November after about a year and a half in business. In the beginning, the club was packed nearly every night with it's 4 theme rooms (70's, 80's, 90's and current) giving club-goers the ability to jump into a different music mood simply by walking--or stumbling--a few short steps.

Eventually, the club started slowing down and different rooms were closed off, even during prime time Saturday nights. We surmised that the stigma of having the club in the lowly Stratosphere was probably the main culprit in the failure.

The beefcake male revue "American Storm", a show that started at the Riviera, landed at the Stratosphere in an attempt to bolster the club's off-hours bottom line but they soon figured out that something was wrong when the air conditioning went down and wasn't fixed. Shortly thereafter, the dancers arrived for work to find official sticker-seals on the doors (rarely a good thing) indicating the club had lost its liquor license.

Anyway, we always had a good time there and though that Polly Esther's would be a hit in a "real" Strip resort but I guess that probably ain't gonna happen as they've also close locations in NYC and San Antonio. Don't worry about American Storm, though, they are moving into the V Theatre in Planet Hollywood soon...

In the ultimate sign that Las Vegas' traditional free-flowing cash is drying up, Norm!, the Review-Journal gossip dude, says that the practice of cash-rich people throwing wads of paper money in the air at area nightclubs and strip clubs is drying up.

"Making it Rain
The champagne-spraying, cash-tossing era may be fading from the Las Vegas nightclub scene. It's the latest sign that even the superrich are in a belt-tightening mode.

"Vegas is drying up," said Branden Powers, a partner and director of marketing at Poetry nightclub (formerly OPM) at the Forum Shops at Caesars. While New Year's Eve business was strong, "December was off 25-40 percent on most nights," Powers said.

More on Rain-Making in Vegas (more)

So let me get this straight... You're a company in financial difficulty--you're selling assets to repay debt, you're suspending all projects not already under construction and are about to lay off people yet you want to build the largest hotel in the world right here in Recession City? Hmmm... And the cost of borrowing capital is so high right now that it's tough to generate returns to make any profit. Um, ok... And you want to build the darn thing on land that has already seen George Clooney bail out of a project over and then the same ditch-put occurred with something called "W Las Vegas", too? Got it.

Well, that's exactly what some rich Israeli diamond merchant wants to do. He wants to build a 6,745-room hotel (the largest hotel is currently in Malaysia with 6,118 rooms), casino and retail complex on 60 acres along Harmon Avenue west of the Hard Rock Hotel (remember where "Ice" nightclub was?).

We wish the dude all the luck in the world and it would be great to have the largest hotel in the world again back in Las Vegas but something tells me this project won't ever happen. Bet the owner of the large parcel ends up selling off the land in bits and pieces.

This "Know It A.L.L." may not appeal to many except those Las Vegas residents--and a few adventurous visitors--who venture off the beaten path of the Strip and check out some of the offbeat bars locals frequent. Then again, it's a damn interesting--and quick--story about an Elvis impersonator who made some nice "Vegas money", started a bar in a seedy part of town and eventually closed the bar so maybe it'll appeal to a broader audience. Doesn't matter. We wondered exactly what had happened to the Art Bar downtown on Main Street, the house with the Graceland gates (somewhat near Cheetah's Topless Club) and the pink convertible Cadillac. Now we know...

The Story...
"Jackpot Town!" the headline read.

And above it was the smiling face of Jesse Grice. He was just 27, six years into his career as an Elvis impersonator. A young Elvis Presley. A fit, fresh, gold lame Elvis, on the cover of Time Magazine.

"Elvis" in Vegas (more)

While most of the Vegas buzz going on with LowLife members this week involves the porn stars and (hopefully) decadent Strip parties surrounding the adult film convention, the real star of the Strip is the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show taking place in convention space all over town. This is the show where many of the new electronic and computer gadgets are unveiled.

Former Microsoft chief Bill Gates has traditionally delivered the keynote address and despite being the world's richest nerd, he usually had the crowd roaring. This year, new MS CEO Steve Ballmer will deliver the address so we'll see if he can live up to his predecessor's standards.

Last year, nearly 140,000 attendees brought in an estimated non-gambling revenue of somewhere around $233 million so you can bet that our service industry residents--strippers and hookers included--are looking forward to an influx of tips during these difficult times.

While several companies decided not to go to the show this year and others pared back on booth space and the number of attendees they opted to send, the lower Las Vegas room rates enticed more than a few to make the trip despite the economic slump as more than 130,000 are expected this year.

A downer note about CES is whether it will continue to function in its current massive size. There's lots of discussion that maybe the show has run its course and will implode much like the even-more massive Comdex convention did a few years ago. We sure hope not but can see it happening, especially if the economic climate doesn't improve in the next 6 months.

The LowLife listing for CES

For better or for worse, Las Vegas will have scads and scads of new rooms to fill in the upcoming new year. In fact, this year will see the most new hotel rooms in our history! Generally, when new resorts (or new hotel wings) open, Las Vegas receives a nice bump--sometimes even a boom--in tourism but with economic conditions being what they are, the city has a lot of anxiety about the effect this increased inventory will create.

Here are the projects due to open in 2009: (more)

For the past 20 years or so, Nevada has been one of the fastest growing states in the country, often spending many of those years at number 1. We have finally broken the streak, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

With just a 1.8% increase in population, we're now the 8th fastest-growing state with an estimated population of just over 2,600,000 residents.

Our neighbor to the north--Utah--is now in the top spot with a 2.5% increase followed by our neighbor to the south, Arizona (2.3%).

Yep, it's finally here. That event we've all waited breathlessly for has finally rolled into town. You know, that much-anticipated competition held on the Las Vegas Strip drawing over 800 participants from the US and Canada with a $50,000 grand prize? The one where highly-skilled competitors must, despite all sorts of distractions--including yelling just before a shot, loud burps and the occasional flash of cleavage--sink the ball into the cup full of beer on the other end of the table in order to force your opponent to drink the beer in the cup. Uh huh, that competition--the Beer Pong World Series is in town and it's larger than ever.

The first Beer Pong World Series was held three years ago at the Oasis Resort in Mesquite with just 80 two-person teams and a grand prize of $10,000. It has doubled in size each year, has moved to its biggest venue yet--the Flamingo Hotel--and is sponsored by good ol' Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The competition began Thursday night and the finals will be held Monday evening.

The rules for the BPWS are pretty much like those you would find in your neighborhood bar. You can do almost anything to try and distract your opponent (this is where flashing comes in) as long as you don't cross onto the playing field (i.e. the table with the beer cups on it) and you can't create a wind current to alter the flight of the balls. When shooting, "a player may not place a hand/foot/leg/penis/whatever on the table in order to gain additional reach and/or leverage." You may put your beer belly on the table when attempting a shot, however.

This sounds like our kind of event. We'll have to check out sponsorship opportunities for Team LowLife. Stay tuned for developments.

A Couple of "Distractions" in the Beer Pong World Series (more)

THE PUNCH LINE
"If romance can't last between a 28-year-old model and an 82-year-old man who wears a bathrobe to the office, why should the rest of us even bother trying?
-- Time magazine, on the breakup of Holly Madison and Hugh Hefner.

Our so called "America's Party" may have taken an image hit with a limp-wristed version of its normaly spectacular fireworks display. This article confirms what we saw from our vantage point of the Strip and also what we have been hearing from LowLifes who braved the famous Boulevard.

Organizers of the $600,000 exhibit tried something new this year: shooting off fireworks from parking lots and garages instead of resort rooftops. Because of new fire code regulations related to the roof fire on the Monte Carlo, Las Vegas Events decided not to spend the extra $200,000 for engineering evaluations in order to launch the pyrotechnics from the rooftops.

They say they will take a couple of months to evaluate the situation before making any decisions. We'd guess they'll opt to spend the money and restore the rooftop display and that will be the main theme of their marketing for the '09 event.

We're sure it's coming to Nevada--it's just a question of when. Six states have laws that begin taking effect this week where those convicted of drunk driving will be forced to install breath-monitoring devices in order to start the car.

Basically, it works like this:
--You get busted for DUI and the court orders you to install a "Smart Start" (or similar gadget) or your license is suspended.
--You have to pay for the install which in Illinois, for example, cost around $80 to install on dashboards and $80 a month to rent; there's also a $30 monthly state fee
--Every time you start the car you'll need to breath into the device . The car won't start if the reading is higher than the pre-set limit.
--You could have a sober friend breathe into it but if you get caught it's probably jail time.
--You'll be required to periodically re-breathe into the device while the car is running in case you started the car and decided to party while the car is moving or parked but idling.

While Mothers Against Drunk Driving are pushing these laws across the nation, they will probably get some push-back from the powerful Nevada Resort Association when our state becomes one of the battlegrounds. Since we were one of the last states to disallow open containers of alcohol in vehicles, MADD will probably wait until they have a majority of states in fold before they start on us.

We totally understand the need to try and inhibit the DUI repeat offender from taking the road again under the influence but when we hear about future technology MADD is supporting--devices that will enable cars to effectively sniff car cabins, scan faces and eyes of drivers or even test sweat on steering wheels to assess sobriety before engines start--we start to wonder about the line between public safety and personal privacy. Will this sort of big brother gadgetry eventually be installed on all new cars? Will they be able to watch us while we pick our noses, flip off bad drivers, indulge in the occasional mobile blow job?

Here are a couple of things we do support: (more)

Some video evidence of the good time we had on New Year's Eve, even if we can't quite remember it the next day...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, there were lots of chances to make new ones with all the celebrations going on in town. There were an estimated 291,000 people partying up and down the Las Vegas Strip which, they say, is up from last year's count (est. 284,000) but down from '06 (est. 305,174 or thereabouts). We've always wondered how the heck they actually estimate crowds like that, especially ones spread up and down the length of a long street...

There were also 30,000 crazies on Fremont Street--including our beloved mayor Oscar Goodman (along with his beloved showgirls)--which was more than double last year's crowd (of course, it was free for locals this year and only $20 for aliens while it was something like $40 for everyone in '07). We also had several vehicles making jumps around town: Robbie Maddison jumped up and on and then down our fake Arc de Triomphe, Robbie Knievel jumped in front of the Mirage volcano--rather than over like was advertised by Fox--and Ryhs Millen did a back flip with a pickup truck over at the Rio (although he didn't hit the landing quite right).

The Strip fireworks show received lots of complaints as it was difficult for many to actually view the various displays and all in all, many are happy to be done with 2008.